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Rifle at the ready, Erasto instructs us to walk behind him, in two lines, quietly. "If I raise my arm and make a fist, that means freeze," he explains. "Or, I might say, 'Psst!' Or snap my fingers," he demonstrates.

"Stop and wait." We all nod assent and get ready to experience a slice of Tanzania's wildebeest migration on foot.

The purpose of a walking safari, our guide explained during the drive from our lodge to the drop-off point in a valley below the Kuka Hills, isn't to see big game up close and unprotected; but to observe smaller signs of Serengeti life that would otherwise go unnoticed next to the bull elephants, herds of zebras and proud lions: spoor, leopard tracks, flowers, beautiful birds.

The morning sun shines umber on the long, yellowing grass; it's ideal light for photographs, but holding only a camera I feel oddly vulnerable, a two-legged interloper out of place in Africa. It's one thing to take in the continent's wildlife bounty from the soft seat of a safari jeep, but quite another to walk the land lorded over by the Black Rock pride, whose female and young male members we'd observed nearby two days prior.

We haven't even taken a step when our Land Cruiser reappears in the distance, racing back to-ward us trailed by a plume of red dust. "I told Gwandu to come back if he saw lions or elephants," Erasto explains, picking up his walkie-talkie and listening to his assistant. "He says the male lion is in the middle of the road! What luck!" And so, before it even begins, our walking safari comes to an end.

We climb back into the jeep and drive ahead 500 metres over a hill and around a bend where a mature male lion is walking down the road.

Such is the safari life in the Serengeti, where animals are so abundant in every direction it almost seems staged. We've seen young male impalas locking horns, a giraffe stooping down for a drink of water on the side of the road, and an ugly marabou stork picking at a wildebeest carcass among a wake of vultures.

We're staying at andBe-yond Klein's Camp, our first stop on a six-day safari that will take us from the Serengeti to Ngorongoro Crater Conservation Area and finally to Lake Man-yara National Park, popular stops along Tanzania's northern safari circuit.

Though neighbouring Kenya attracts more visitors annually - more than a million compared to Tanzania's 750,000 - East Africa's largest country is home to some of the region's top tourist attractions including Mt. Kilimanjaro, the island of Zanzibar and the three safari parks on our itinerary.

Klein's Camp safari lodge sits on a private concession adjacent to Serengeti National Park, the country's biggest park that protects a virtually untouched ecosystem populated by the largest concentration of big game in the world. The lodge leases 25,000 acres of land from the local Masai community, an arrangement that works out well for tourists - on private land, safari jeeps can drive off-road right up to the animals.

This means that when our male lion steps off the track and walks cross-country to greet his pride, our jeep follows him to watch the reunion up close. We can also participate in after-dark game drives and, evidently, go on daytime walking safaris when lions aren't on the prowl.

There are just as many zebras and wildebeests and gazelles and warthogs - and lions - as if we're in the national park.

"There are no fences or boundaries," Erasto says. "There is just the freedom of the animal to stay - or go."

Of course, timing counts for something. We've planned our visit to coincide with the annual wildebeest migration, when up to three million of the creatures follow the green grass and rains from Tanzania up to Masai Mara National Park in Kenya before circling back into Tanzania to begin another 2,500-kilometre circuit.

Most travellers associate Kenya with this phenomenon, but in truth the migration only dips into that country for a couple of months before crossing the border back to Tanzania.

Since fewer tourists come here, we have the animals - and plenty more close encounters of the wild kind - almost all to ourselves.

The following morning in Ngorongoro Crater (two jeep rides and a bush plane flight away from Serengeti National Park) we stop for breakfast at Ngoitokitok Springs, where a group of hippos is submerged in the water. I'm sitting outside of the Land Cruiser on a stool and just biting into some bacon when our guide Alex says, "There goes a lion." I turn and watch a female cross the road 100 metres away.

"Should we be worried?" I ask, imagining a Canadian scenario by swapping in a grizzly bear.

"No," he says, nonchalantly. "They won't come up to the jeeps until it's hot and they're seeking shade."

Five minutes later a bull elephant wanders up to the water's edge. Unlike the lions he quickly approaches the vehicle next to ours and then bluff charges the occupants who have stayed outside, to prove his might. "OK, into the jeep!" Alex yells. No need to tell us twice.

Back at Ngorongoro Crater Lodge, a herd of zebras grazes right outside our bungalow and barely looks up when I walk past. And that night we hear a loud crashing sound under our room, which is raised up on stilts to afford a better view of the crater floor far below. We rush to the balcony in time to see a cape buffalo bulldozing his way through the underbrush. Had we left dinner 10 minutes later we might have come face to horns with one of Africa's most dangerous animals - I'm beginning to understand why a guard armed with a spear is assigned to escort us between the main lodge and the bungalow after dark.

But by far the biggest adrenalin-producing animal encounter takes place in Lake Manyara National Park, a wedge of acacia forest, floodplain and - after the rains - picturesque lake situated at the foot of a rock escarpment that forms the eastern wall of the Great Rift Valley. The park is famous for its tree-climbing lions, graceful leopards and a large population of elephants - about 150 roam the park's long, narrow forest.

It's one of these animals that we nearly walk into on the way to breakfast. A lion or leopard probably would have slipped away unnoticed by us, but this bull elephant stands his ground, directly on the path separating us from a meal of fresh fruit and cheesy eggs at Lake Manyara Tree Lodge, another andBeyond property.

We immediately freeze (Erasto would have been proud, and probably excited we finally experienced a walking safari), and then we just stare at the enormous pachyderm 10 metres away. He returns our gaze and then goes back to snacking on thorny acacia branches while moving ominously closer.

My husband Blake does what any bear jam-raised Canadian would do: he starts taking pictures of me with the elephant in the background. This goes on for a few minutes until the beast's leafy breakfast brings him too close for comfort. I hightail it back to our tree house while Blake experiences his very own bluff charge, complete with giant flapping ears.

Blake joins me seconds later up on our balcony and we watch the enormous creature move off into the forest. Our lodge, like the country's parks, has no fences, and we can't help but feel we've experienced a true taste of untouched Tanzania.

Getting there/getting around: KLM flies daily direct from Amsterdam into Kilimanjaro International Airport, near Arusha. We flew Tanganyika Flying Company (TFC) to Lobo airstrip in the Serengeti and on to Lake Manyara airstrip, which services both Ngorongoro Crater Conservation Area and Lake Manyara National Park. Internal flights and transfers were all arranged by safari operator andBeyond (see below).

Where to stay: andBeyond operates four lodges and two tented camps in Tanzania and can arrange all aspects of your safari (www.andBeyond.com).

Which parks? The Tanzania Tourist board (www.tanzaniatouristboard.com) offers an overview of the country's attractions, but individual websites are better.

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